GIS Steering Committee

“Where People Count” MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1000 Civic Center Drive, Niles, Illinois 60714 Telephone (847) 588-8000 Fax (847) 588-8050 GIS Steering Committee Meeting February 10, 2011 Co-Chairs: Andrew Przybylo – Trustee George Van Geem – Village Manager Persons in attendance: Robert Callero Mayor Steve Cusick MIS Dept. Mousa Nazzal Engineering Dept. Bob Pilat Public Services Bill Shaw MIS Dept. George Van Geem Village Manager Andrew Vitale MIS Dept. Rich Wlodarski Community Development Dept. The meeting was called to order at 8:05 a.m. Agenda Item #1 – Approval of Minutes The minutes of the December 2, 2010 meeting were approved. Agenda Item #2 – Old Business – Project Updates Atlas Training A.Vitale reported that four Atlas training classes have been scheduled: two classes (9:30 am and 1:30 pm) on each day – Wednesday, February 16, and Friday, February 18. Tim Spadoni is coordinating the scheduling. Mayor Callero stated that he has been pushing for this initial training so that all employees know what is in Atlas and how to get to it. The second phase of training will go into more technical aspects of the material. A. Vitale added that they already have ideas on what subject matter the second phase will cover. It will be geared toward the more advanced user; a lot of it may be student-driven. B.Shaw added that we are doing the Village Hall/Family Services/Fitness campus first, and will hold classes for Police, Fire and Public Services at their respective campuses. The department heads and managers will determine who of their field employees will benefit from Atlas training. Maintenance Management System (MMS) B.Shaw reported that when it came time to implement a maintenance management system (service requests, work orders, GIS asset management), our first choice was to purchase a package. But because there wasn’t a lot of money available in the budget, the only option available at that time was to develop it in-house. Tim Spadoni and Andrew Vitale worked with Public Services managers to develop a design and determine a needs-analysis and work flow. In November, MIS started to write the system. In January, we noted that there was $75,000 in the MIS budget that was allocated to the storm-water project that did not get used. At the last GIS Steering Committee meeting, we discussed using it to update Atlas and collect more inverts, but those ideas didn’t seem to click. So, because our biggest need is maintenance management, we decided to put that money toward the purchase of an MMS package. The decision was made with the support of Mayor Callero and George Van Geem. We began searching for a package that will cost approximately two/thirds or less of the $75,000, and would like to acquire it by April 1, 2011. (It is being reported to this committee a little after the fact because of the postponement of this meeting.) Because of the ground work that MIS had already done, we are ready with a five-page list of requirements. We looked at six different packages that were industry standards and eliminated two because they didn’t meet some basic requirements. We attended four demonstrations, and eliminated all but two: VueWorks and CityWorks. We are now in the process of reviewing the final details of the two products. Our goal is that by the next steering committee meeting we will have had a chance to identify the best and the worst characteristics of these products and bring in Public Services (Scott Jochim, Tom Polcyn, Earl Salther, Fred Braun, Bob Pilat and Mousa Nazzal) within the next two weeks to see a demonstration of the solution that we propose. The final decision will be greatly weighed by what Public Services thinks of the package(s) we suggest. If everyone agrees, at the next steering committee meeting we would like to recommend that we go to the Board in March for approval to purchase it. We could then do the paperwork in April and have a maintenance management system up and running by the summer. Mayor Callero instructed that we let Public Works be a major portion in the final decision. B.Shaw agreed. To review, B. Shaw and S. Cusick offered a quick definition of maintenance management: 1) Service requests, whether from the public or generated internally, whether Public Services related or not, will drive the work order process. 2) Work orders will help us manage the work to be done, the equipment and materials to be used, and the labor to do the work, and will give us an accounting tool to track it all. 3) It will give Public Services the ability to edit the data in GIS so that their work flow keeps GIS up-to-date which, in turn, will keep Atlas up-to-date. 4) Because it’s all digital, it will give us more advanced analysis, reporting and budgeting capabilities. M. Nazzal asked if we could lease the package with an option to buy, instead of buying it outright. B. Shaw responded that a leasing option is not available. But, because we should have a safety net, he will make sure that when we select a package we will negotiate the final terms of 2 the purchase to include a provision that we can get a full refund if the product doesn’t perform as expected in a given period of time. A.Vitale agreed. B.Pilat asked how we will update the information: in the field or at the managers’ work stations. Most of the Public Works employees don’t have access to a computer. Will we set up additional work stations, will everyone have a login? B. Shaw responded that it will be done any way Public Services wants. We have made sure that both packages will handle updating either from the field or from a desk. There is extra money in the budget to get laptops or iPads – whichever will work best in the field – for the guys. There is also money in the budget to add computers to the office. The initial implementation of MMS is focused on water, sewer and signs, so we will be able to contain this and work with those groups to determine the best procedure and, as we add more asset layers, we will expand the process. All the pieces are in place, but we will take slow, deliberate steps. Both MMS packages under consideration are web-based, so all we have to do is put a Wi-Fi card in the laptop or iPad and we can make sure you have field access. As you’re ready to take the next step in digitizing your procedures, we can slowly grow into it. B. Shaw wants field access up-and-running and part of Public Services’ normal operation in this upcoming fiscal year. IMS Mapping Software Replacement A.Vitale stated that directly related to MMS is the replacement for the interactive map portion of Atlas. Both of these are tied together and we are looking for them to meet at a close point in the future. B.Shaw commented that A.Vitale has been working with ESRI to figure out what we can get out of the new map engine. We are letting the two come together naturally in this process. It won’t be two projects; it will be one. Soon after the MMS package is installed, Atlas will wind up getting a facelift. This will give us a better result. Mayor Callero mentioned a project that is not immediate: He would like a map that shows the Village’s various nationalities based on our census information. A.Vitale said that we are scheduled to receive the first delivery of our census information in March/April of this year. As the year goes on, we will get more detailed information. Mayor Callero would like to see this accomplished by the end of the year. Agenda Item #3 – New Business Shared GIS Network Drive A.Vitale reported that he issued a statement to the GIS Steering Committee members and to the Stormwater Commission about the shared GIS network drive – the M drive. This is a repository for him to issue new GIS-related maps and information. At present, it only contains the digital atlases, both in the smaller field size and the larger office size, for all water and sewer, and are the most current atlases that he is using. They are dated, so you know when it was last printed. As he gets new updates, he will issue those atlases so everyone has access to the same PDF documents. This drive is a one-way street, and access can be given as needed. S. Cusick added that any kind of GIS data – spreadsheets, charts, graphs – can be added to this drive. Please let A.Vitale know if you do not have access to this drive. 3 Cook County Data Sharing Resolution / Integration A.Vitale put before the Board at its January 2011 meeting the resolution for the Cook County Data Sharing Agreement – an annual occurrence required by the Cook County Assessor’s Office. It was approved and has been sent to the Assessor’s office. He should receive the assessment information soon. He had long ago received the GIS data from them, which does include some new air photos. He has looked at the old and new parcels and will be able to connect it to the new, more up-to-date Cook County ownership information once he receives it. GIS Budget – Fiscal 2012 A.Vitale distributed a list which reflects the last two fiscal budget years for GIS and what is proposed for this coming fiscal year. He noted that each year we are budgeting less for GIS, and we are requesting less than $200,000 for fiscal year 2012. B.Shaw asked if Public Services budgeted anything for any additional labor to help with signs. B. Pilat responded that yes, for summer help. The (traffic) sign inventory assessment is due on January 22, 2012. B.Shaw noted that we put $15,000 in our services budget in case we have to enlist some outside help to get through our sign inventory by the deadline. If Public Services has this cost covered, then maybe we don’t need it in GIS; we can keep it there just in case. The other $15,000 in our services budget is for other incidentals such as Stormwater Commission and data gathering that may come up. M. Nazzal asked for clarification: The $75,000 previously allocated to the Stormwater project was now going to be used for the MMS software and not for the inverts. Are we not going to do the inverts? B. Shaw responded that he didn’t think so, because we can’t really get all the rest of the Village with that anyway. We can only get a small chunk of it. And we weren’t planning on using the entire $75,000; we were going to split it with another project. If we talked about half of the $75,000, how far would we get with $38,000? It’s not enough to have a significant effect on things. M. Nazzal said we could do the manholes. B. Shaw said we don’t know how much the software is going to cost; we are trying to determine the baseline. We may be able to find a product that is $30,000 which would leave everything we had on the table for inverts. We may be able to do it, but MMS is such a priority we need to figure it out first and see where we are budget-wise. He would like to move quickly on everything and be able to discuss that decision at the next meeting. We may be able to do both. A.Vitale stated that the quote we have in hand from Adrian (an independent surveyor from AP Surveying Co.) can be executed pretty quickly. He could start work with very little notice. He quoted us at $100 per hour and he estimates that he can do an average of 50 structures in a day. Mayor Callero clarified that inverts are manholes, and said that we should not throw the project to the wayside. After collecting approximately 350 with Hey and Associates, we still have 3,000 to 4,000. A.Vitale feels we don’t have to do every single manhole, but can target certain manholes where there are particular junctions of a certain size or more than two pipes that would be more important for flow analysis. He doesn’t feel that getting every manhole on a straight line run would be very valuable. We can probably narrow it down further. Once we have the model from Hey & Associates, whom he believes will share that technology, we can determine exactly which manholes to collect. B.Shaw stated that if we want to use that $75,000, either for inverts or MMS, we need to get it committed by April even if we don’t start the work until next fiscal year. We need to make a decision in the next couple of meetings. Based on what we’re seeing, there is a good chance we’ll be able to have money for both. Mayor Callero stated that this is the reason we have to 4 look at the other committees. The Stormwater Committee decided that now is the time to get these inverts instead of next year. B. Shaw said that we need to come up with a more firm number as to how much of that budget we need to accomplish the inverts. A. Vitale will do an analysis on the number of manholes left, and try to do an analysis on the number of junction manholes. B.Shaw noted that there are three items that were cut from the budget: interns (interns are no longer available for free), training, and orthophotography. A.Vitale continued that we last flew in 2009. He was hoping for a replacement schedule of every three to five years because of significant changes in technology and in the Village, for historical comparison purposes, and because it is standard practice. The last photo cost under $20,000, so it is not a terrible amount to spend every three to five years for a new photo. Mayor Callero said that, because we are an older community that does not have a lot of changes, he prefers to go on the five-year replacement schedule, which would put it in fiscal year 2013. We can begin planning it in November of 2012; the money will come from the 2013 budget. B.Shaw commented that our GIS budget is decreasing while the number of activities and services has increased. “Hats off to Andrew.” Agenda Item #4 – Departmental Projects Sign Inventory We need a database to reflect the sign inventory assessment. The plan is to replace all the signs to comply with the new standards set forth by the Federal Highway Administration in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). A.Vitale reported that our first focus was to look at the signs in GIS and the database of Public Services’ sign inventory, and to look at the different attributes and fields that are tracked in both of them and combine them. B. Shaw stated that Public Services has the Access database that has approximately 383 signs. We have a cumulative GIS database that has 6,000 signs. S. Cusick continued: As Public Services collects sign data, we eventually will want to put all that data back into GIS. To achieve that, we will match the signs that Public Works has in its sign database with what is in GIS. Then we will create a series of maps that shows your sign data and our sign data on the map together. As you go out and enter new data into your sign database, you will be able to correlate a sign to a point on the map. Then we will keep printing new maps so you can see your data on the map overlay with ours and we can then get your data mapped inside GIS as you’re doing your procedure and we can help identify discrepancies. We plan to compare the fields that are in GIS with the fields that you have in the sign database and get all the fields into your sign database and talk to you and determine what we feel needs to be collected for the long term. B. Pilat asked how this will tie in to the MMS software. A.Vitale answered that the sign database will be ready by the time MMS is here, so that you will be able to use MMS to keep the attributes on signs up-to-date. You will use Access as you have in the past, but with new fields within it. Once it’s ready to be ported over to the MMS, then we port it over at the same time. B.Shaw asked what information are we required to collect for each sign in order to meet that requirement. B.Pilat distributed sheets explaining the requirements. B.Shaw suggested that MIS 5 and Public Services (Lynn Ball – Streets and Signs Manager) meet next week to discuss the database requirements. He feels that the Access application should be ready for them the week after next. Public Services will then be able to start collecting information. That, in turn, will define the fields that we will need to put into the MMS package. We will also have to decide if we want to include sign supports (poles). Mayor Callero pointed out that if meeting all the federal mandates regarding signs can save one life a year, then it is well worth all the work we have to do. Hydrant Painting A.Vitale reported that he had a meeting with Scott Jochim, Earl Salther, and Steve Borkowski regarding hydrant and hydrant cap painting. He explained our current situation and identified our potential need to update hydrant flow data and flow testing information. Scott said he will run with it. Whether or not that goes forward will influence our decisions on how hydrants are painted. Scott said it is a hydrant maintenance issue; when he needs GIS support on mapping, he will contact us. A.Vitale will support the project, but it is no longer one that he will manage directly.
The Fiscal 2012 Proposed GIS Budget sheet that was handed out at this meeting should be included with the minutes.
Mayor Callero stated that the GIS Steering Committee began in 1999. Mayor Blase assigned him to the committee to oversee the spending of the GIS budget, which was $1.7 million over three years. Today, we have a very good committee, with ideas coming from everyone. He would now like to challenge Mouse Nazzal, Bob Pilat and Rich Wlordarski to take 15 minutes in the next month and think of what they would like to see come out of the GIS systems in one and two years from now. Give us a long range plan of what you would like to see. It could be wild. As they move ahead, and it may be two years down the road, it may get on the agenda and may get in the budget, to make this a better community. The members of the committee developed a system that started from an idea. He wants the ideas to continue. Next month, bring in your ideas; prioritize them. This challenge should be extended to Chuck Ostman, as well.
M. Nazzal asked about the Atlas software and the speed of Atlas. A.Vitale responded that we are aware that it is slow and that the speed and efficiency of Atlas is first and foremost on his mind. S. Cusick stated that we talked about the demo we’re going to have with ESRI to see the product with our data in it. They understand and know our speed concerns and they’re going to address that with us and tell us the best way to harness the new software to make it as quick as possible. That is foremost on our list of needs. B. Shaw added that our priorities are to maintain the feature set that we have provided and turbo charge the speed, reliability and stability. We are now at the point where we have to replace it. We have a license for the new version, but it is not just a click-of-the-switch. It’s more likely a month’s work to make that transition. A.Vitale stated that we were given a sample set of ten to twelve other sites that are using this newer version of the software, and the speed and efficiency were pretty impressive. It is 6  now a matter of getting the proper configuration of all the hardware and software here on our end, which we are letting ESRI guide us on. S. Cusick continued that the biggest question is what is the best and easiest way to implement this new version? B. Shaw said that the two MMS packages that we are looking at rely on the newer mapping software as part of their interface, so we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves and try to move to that interface and find out that the software for MMS dictates that we do it differently. If we coordinate our efforts, we’ll get there, and we’ll get there in such a way that everything will blend right. M. Nazzal asked if we could set up an alarm or message when it is not working so we would be aware that it’s not working. S. Cusick responded that we do have something in place that monitors the server, but because of the way that the map is failing the only way to test it is to have a human being check it, which Andrew does every morning, and Bill does every evening. Agenda Item #5 – Schedule the Next Meeting (recommended date: March 10, 2011) Referring back to the MMS package, A.Vitale stated that is our goal to have a recommendation in place, with pricing, by the next GIS Steering Committee meeting on March 10. That date is critical, as March 11 is the due date for Board agenda items for the March 22 Board meeting. The next meeting will be Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. in the 2nd floor main conference room 218. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 a.m. Steering Committee Members Andrew Przybylo Trustee atp@vniles.com George Van Geem Administration gvg@vniles.com 847-588-8002 Bill Shaw MIS wfs@vniles.com 847-588-8015 Andrew Vitale MIS ajv@vniles.com 847-588-8022 Steve Cusick MIS src@vniles.com 847-588-8018 Moses Nazzal Engineering mhn@vniles.com 847-588-7924 Scott Jochim Public Services snj@vniles.com 847-588-7901 Bob Pilat Public Services rmp@vniles.com 847-588-7926 Chuck Ostman Community Development cfo@vniles.com 847-588-8041 Rich Wlordarski Community Development rjw@vniles.com 847-588-8085 7